Return to Archaeology of Cheshire

Additional Sources of Information

Sources of information that researchers may find useful in addition to the Historic Environment Record. Please note that charges may apply for for the commercial re-use of some of these resources. Many of these books, maps, and documents are available to view at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies (http://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/) or Lancashire Archives (https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-record-office/). Some books and journals may be available from your local library.

Historic Maps

The tithe maps and awards for the historic County of Cheshire are available online at: https://maps.cheshireeast.gov.uk/tithemaps/.

Copies of seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century county maps for the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire are published online by the National Library of Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk/counties/.

Ordnance Survey maps and plans dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of these maps are published online from the National Library of Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk.

Aerial Photographs and Surveys

A wide range of aerial photographs are available for Cheshire including post war surveys dating from the late 1940s, small-scale vertical surveys taken ahead of major infrastructure projects, and vertical surveys flown approximately every ten years since 1970. The original aerial photographs, often stereo pairs, are held by Cheshire Archives and Local Studies (http://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/). The HER can provide access to geo-referenced mosaic for most of the major surveys and the later digital surveys. The HER also holds an archive of oblique photographs taken for specific archaeological purposes. A catalogue is available here: http://www.cheshirearchaeology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/CHERAerialPhotos_v.2-1.pdf.

Historic England’s Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer is an online map depicting archaeology that has been identified, by their projects utilising aerial photographs and other aerial survey techniques in England: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/aerial-archaeology-mapping-explorer/.

Historic England’s Aerial Photo Explorer is an online map which enables you to explore digitised aerial photographs dating from the early twentieth century to the modern day held in the Historic England Archive: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/.

Books and Journals

The Victoria County History Society volumes for Cheshire and Lancashire.

  • The Victoria County History of Cheshire. Volume I: Harris, BE & Thacker, AT (eds) 1987. Oxford University Press.
  • The Victoria County History of Cheshire. Volume II: Harris BE (ed) 1979. Oxford University Press.
  • The Victoria County History of Cheshire. Volume III: Elrington CR (ed) 1980. Oxford University Press.
  • The Victoria County History of Cheshire. Volume V parts 1-2: Lewis CP & Thacker, AT (eds) 2003, 2005. University of London Institute of Historical Research. Boydell and Brewer.
  • The Victoria County History of Lancashire. Volume III: Farrer B & Brownbill J (eds) 1907. London.

Some of these volumes are published online at the British History Online website: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/.

The English Place-Names Society volumes for Cheshire.

  • Dodgson J McN 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire. Parts I to V. The English Place-Name Society volumes XLIV to XLVIII. Published by Cambridge University Press.

See also the Survey of English Place-names website: https://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/.

George Ormerod’s 1819 (revised 1882) The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester. The unrevised 1819 edition is available online at the Internet Archive’s Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL206873W/The_history_of_the_county_palatine_and_city_of_Chester?edition=key%3A/books/OL6926552M.

JP Earwaker’s 1877 East Cheshire Past and Present. Searchable digitised copies of both volumes are available online at:

Back issues of the Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, together with other publications, are accessible online free of charge via the Archaeology Data Service at https://doi.org/10.5284/1046285.

Some early issues of the Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society are available online. For further information see: http://www.landcas.org.uk/transactions.html.

Volume 1 (1849) to volume 157 (2008) of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire have been digitised and made available free of charge online by the Society at: https://www.hslc.org.uk/archive/.

The Cheshire Local History Association, have made issues of their journal, Cheshire History, published between 1951 and 2018 available free of charge online at: https://sites.google.com/site/cheshirelocalhistory/home?authuser=0.

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) Library which publishes bibliographic records and Open Access copies of published and unpublished sources relating to archaeology and heritage: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/.

Other Sources

Some trade directories dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are published online by the University of Leicester: https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4.